The invention generally relates to ophthalmic surgical equipment in general and ophthalmic endoscopes in particular.
Ophthalmic surgical procedures typically require that two or even three surgical instruments are simultaneously deployed within the vicinity of a surgical site. The recommended diameter of an ocular surgical opening is about 1 mm which approximately corresponds to the diameter of each instrument and therefore normally two or three ocular surgical openings are required for an ophthalmic surgical procedure, each surgical opening enabling the insertion of a single instrument therethrough.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,622 to Fritch, there is illustrated and described an ophthalmic endoscope provided with a probe formed with a conduit for accepting instruments, for example, a cutting device- for taking a sample (see Col. 3, lines 16-19) or fiber optics connected to an external laser source for ocular laser intervention However, in order to accommodate the conduit whilst maintaining the same endoscopic ability, the dimensions of the probe are necessarily greater tan those recommended for a surgical opening.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ophthalmic endoscope for use with an endoscope attachment having a generally tubular body member, the endoscope comprising a rigid probe with an optical axis and a tip, and an attachment interface for releasably engaging the body member of an endoscope attachment slidingly mounted on said probe.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an endoscope attachment for use with an ophthalmic endoscope having a rigid probe with an optical axis and a tip, the endoscope attachment comprising a tubular body member for slidingly mounting on the probe.
Endoscope attachments of the present invention can be adapted for mounting on either a purpose built ophthalmic endoscope with an attachment interface or a conventional ophthalmic endoscope whereby a hitherto considered passive device is converted into a multi-purpose surgical device useful for a wide range of conventional and newly envisaged intraocular surgical procedures in various tissues of the eye. Mounting of an endoscope attachment on an ophthalmic endoscope""s probe enables the imaging of a surgical procedure at high magnifications of up to 50xc3x97 with an image resolution better than that obtained with an hitherto employed external imaging system i.e. an operating microscope.
For use with the purpose built ophthalmic endoscope of the present invention, the endoscope attachments preferably have a tubular body member coextensive with the endoscope probe when mounted thereon, the body member having longitudinally directed optic fibers for transmitting illumination light therealong for illumination of a surgical site. The overall width of the probe together with an endoscope attachment mounted thereon is about 1 mm for insertion through a conventional sized ocular surgical opening. In addition, an endoscope attachment can include surgery associated means typically disposed beyond the probe tip when mounted on the probe, the surgery associated means being implemented as an optical element for ocular examination, a surgical tip for ocular surgical intervention or a cauterization tip for ocular cauterization intervention. The ophthalmic endoscope of the present invention can be implemented for selectively displacing the surgical associated means relative to the probe along its optical axis whereby surgical procedures can be performed whilst maintaining the same field of view and image features. The ophthalmic endoscope of the present invention can be implemented for use with a computer controlled XYZ manipulator for facilitating magnifications greater than xc3x97100.